Energy Flow
Where does almost all energy in an ecosystem start?
The sun
What do we call an organism that makes its own food, like a plant?
A producer
In this relationship, both organisms benefit.
Mutualism
What is a limiting factor?
Anything that limits the size of a population
What do we call all the members of one species living in the same area?
A population
In a food web, which way do the arrows point?
Toward the organism that is eating, which shows where the energy goes
What do the prefixes auto- and hetero- mean?
Auto- = self; hetero- = other
A tick feeds on a dog’s blood. What relationship is this?
Parasitism
Name three limiting factors.
Any three of: food, water, shelter, space, disease, predation, parasitism, nesting sites, sunlight
The house cat’s scientific name is Felis catus. Which word is the genus?
Felis
What is a food web?
Many connected food chains in an ecosystem
What do we call a consumer that only eats producers?
A primary consumer (herbivore)
A bird builds its nest in a tree, and the tree is not helped or harmed. What relationship is this?
Commensalism
A disease spreads through a deer population. What will most likely happen to the population?
It will decrease, because disease is a limiting factor.
What is the independent (testing) variable?
The factor the scientist changes on purpose
In a food chain, which level has the MOST energy available?
The producers. Energy decreases at each level up the chain.
Name the two main types of decomposers.
Fungi and bacteria
A lion hunts a zebra. Which is the predator and which is the prey?
The lion is the predator; the zebra is the prey.
Trees are cut down, and birds lose places to lay their eggs. What limiting factor is this?
Nesting sites
Students test whether the amount of sunlight affects how tall bean plants grow. What is the dependent variable?
The height of the plants
Algae → small fish → large fish → osprey. Which organism is the secondary consumer?
The large fish
Is a decomposer an autotroph or a heterotroph? Explain.
A heterotroph, because it gets its energy by breaking down other organisms.
Two different bird species eat the same seeds in a forest. What relationship is this, and how does it affect both birds?
Competition. Both are harmed because each gets less food.
Owls eat mice. If the owl population suddenly drops, what will most likely happen to the mouse population, and why?
It will increase, because there is less predation.
An organism is single-celled, has no nucleus, and lives in a hot spring. What domain is it in?
Archaea